Health Secretary Alan Milburn has announced that families of the victims of the brain disease vCJD will receive £25,000 as an interim compensation payment.

The government promised to compensate victims of the human form of mad cow disease after the long-running inquiry into the BSE crisis.

The money will be paid to families immediately while full compensation settlements for each person are decided.

According to latest figures, 86 people have died from definite or probable vCJD and another eight suspected sufferers are still alive.

The money will go to families of people who have died and those caring for a relative with the disease who is still alive.

The Phillips report into BSE criticised ministers and civil servants for failing to respond quickly enough to warnings that BSE in cattle could enter the food chain and infect humans.

Families' reaction

Solicitor David Body of Irwin Mitchell, the law firm representing families of vCJD victims, welcomed the announcement.

He said: "This interim payment will be made as soon as possible and will begin a round of negotiations between the government's lawyers and lawyers of the families to put in place a no fault scheme of compensation for the families
designed to compensate losses and to meet needs.

"An interim payment of £25,000 is obviously the right step for the government to take at this time."